Double

The Zea of Worlds

Astral Gleam

@Rune_Alchemist@Shoryu

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The Unicorn's horn began to glow as he prepared to cast the spell. Even his coat seemed to take on a bit of a different shine. Something about casting advanced enough spells was known to sort of amplify the crystalline nature of a Crystal Pony's mane and coat. Some called this the "Crystal Effect". That effect seemed to be shining through a bit as Astral channeled his magic to conjure another translation circle. This circle would be a bit larger than the first in order for more entities to fit within it. That increase in size likely increased the level of the spell and - by extension - was responsible for producing a brief Crystal Effect over Astral's mane and coat.

He hesitated briefly when the playful visitor seemed to crumple over. Even across planets and worlds, it was fairly easy to recognize when someone was in pain. The unicorn hadn't been present at the castle the entire time, so he knew little about any of the mishaps anyone suffered there. Still, the visitor he spoke to earlier appeared to treat her, so perhaps it wasn't such a serious deal. He started to leave, though, which would have rendered Astral alone with the Princess and the unconscious visitor. That wouldn't do at all. They needed to speak to someone, and not just babysit a sleeping person. And so Astral ended his hesitation and placed the translation circle before the other visitor could get out of range.

"Wait don't leave." he said, his equine neighs and whinnies being partially translated by the circle, "Princess Luna, one of our Royals. Rude to leave her without speaking, yes?" hopefully he simplified the phrasing enough to be understood. Clearly he didn't want the other visitor to leave. It was quite a bit of trouble directing the Princess to this place. And the stress of having to maintaining a larger circle was taking its toll on the unicorn as well. As such, he refused to leave until his efforts produced some kind of results. This was more like the Astral his colleagues back home knew and... loved? Well, maybe "tolerated" was a more accurate word. Either way, this sort of tenacity and downright manipulation was something he gained a lot of infamy for back in the Crystal Empire.

"He should understand you, Princess, at least mostly. Like I said, the translation is imperfect. You may want to simplify your word choice as much as possible to ensure an accurate translation..." he said, breathing slightly heavier due to exerting his power to maintain the circle. He could hold it for a time, but he would certainly run out of energy sooner or later if they dawdled for too long.

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

Being as slow moving as I am, I'm patient... af. As long as someone comes back to post, I'm still here.

I could move my character to push my side of the story forward?

@Double Thoughts? Maybe give it another day or two before Luna starts to shake things up?

@Exit

Hmm, tough call. It'd be awkward if Leah came back and we just sort of... moved on with out them. But on the other hand, just waiting around makes it increasingly likely that the RP will die off.

As for me, my hands are somewhat tied. I've started a fight with one of Leah's NPCs so I'm pretty stuck until they come back.

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

@Leah@Exit

Moments before the ring of the gong, Shu temporarily broke his usual personal rule. He actually spoke to his opponent, "Whatever it is you're after, you won't find it here. Just pain, and maybe some blood for good measure." very surprising to most of the viewers, as that was something he rarely - if ever - did. Most of his fights followed the same general bullet points. His opponent arrived - some taunting him, others trying to be equally stoic - and with no words nor acknowledgement of them, Shu would beat them half to death with rock, stone, and sometimes his bare hands. But this one? If this one was going to insist on being unconventional, then so would Shu.

His opponent widened their stance. Shu considered launching them up into cage's ceiling by Earthbending the section of the floor he stood on, but quickly ruled that strategy out. The direct approach was probably not the way to go - a shame since that was his usual forte. Oh well, he'd have to be more direct at a later time. For now, though, cunning was required more than brute force. As soon as he heard the ring of the gong, Shu shifted his feet and used his arms to make a quick motion as if to grab at the air and pull it toward him. From somewhere behind his opponent, a lance of solid rock jutted upwards, angled to punch into the spine between his shoulder blades. This motion was followed by a forward thrust of Shu's fist, and a second lance of earth shot up from the ground, this time from his opponent's front.

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

Heh, Shu would make one hell of a Firebender. Too bad he was born an Earthbender instead. I mean let's face it, if he were a Firebender then he really would just be Zuko 2.0. At least this way we can see some potentially interesting ways for rage to be applied to Earthbending and possibly Sandbending later. That was something I wanted to bring up, I'm hoping for Shu to branch off into Sandbending later on. We haven't had any major Sandbender characters in the show, and a malleable substance like sand makes for some creative Bending attacks and fighting styles.

Well, he does have something else going for him. Unlike characters such as Zuko or Raphael from the TMNT, Shu doesn't have an Iroh or Master Splinter reining him in. I mean imagine what Zuko would have ended up like if Iroh never existed. That's Shu in a nutshell.

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

@Leah Posted. Also, I changed the announcer's name from Gao to Zhou. I'd rather avoid getting him confused with the other Gao.

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

The young man in the cage took deep breaths as he drowned out the cheering crowd. Most contenders made a show of their victories, waving or egging the crowd on, or other such theatrics. But Shu wasn't here for theatrics. He wasn't here for the audience's sake, in fact he might even insist that he wasn't here for the glory either. He was here for the fight itself. Something about it was just... therapeutic to him. Being able to beat an opponent senseless, unleash all his pent up rage and frustration with the world and putting it all into strikes against poor unsuspecting opponents. His sharp, angry glare never left Shu's face even as he Earthbent a short pillar in front of himself.

The usual rules of the Cage was to fight until you drop, a sort of King-of-the-Hill competition where the Cage was the "hill" and whoever was left standing was it's current king. Right now, that meant Shu, and so he waited for whoever was going to come out next. He passed the time in his usual way, by striking at the pillar of earth he had erected for himself, using it as a training dummy. There was something to be said for someone who would, without hesitation, repeatedly punch rock and stone with their otherwise bare fists. And these were regular strikes. too, no Earthbending involved. That of course meant his knuckles, forearms, and legs were impacting the pillar no differently than those of a non-bender. Suddenly he heard someone calling him, and whatever trance-like state Shu had been in was broken. He stopped striking the pillar of rock and turned to the source of the voice.

"Some nutcase rookie wants to challenge you, offered good money for a chance to fight you on the spot. It's not our usual rules, but we can't ignore the money. It's your choice, but the boss has authorized me to offer you a cut of the bet if you make the rookie run home screaming. So what say you?"

The Master... he rarely left his post in the Red Room. So this had to be a pretty unusual circumstance. His words didn't mean much to Shu. The money would surely go to good use of course, but he also made it no secret that he didn't really do this for the money. He also wasn't as stupid as most people took him for either. Most arena fighters were thought to be brainless muscle, unable to figure out when something was suspicious. Well, Shu was far from that image. Whoever this challenger was he obviously had some other agenda. As for what that actually was, well, Shu would just have to ask him... using his fists of course.

"You should know me by now, Master." Shu responded, his tone even and without hesitation, "I'm here to fight, don't much care against who. If he wants to get hurt so bad, then let him. No skin off my back." he didn't say anything else, instead returning his focus to the pillar he had erected earlier. The Master must have walked away to inform the officials, because within moments the voice of Zhou thundered on the loudspeaker.

"Stop the presses, folks! Some newbie thinks he can conquer our beloved Beast!" the crowd seemed to be split on this, half of them cheering and the other half booing and hissing, "So let's bring him out see if he can walk the walk or if he's all bark!"

The more he waited, the more furiously Shu struck at his stone pillar. By the time his challenger would enter the Cage, Shu's pillar was starting to form cracks on it until he finally gave it one last mighty blow to shatter the pillar into pebbles and gravel. Then Shu's angry eyes, filled with rage and fury, shot a threatening glare at his next opponent.

The Zea of Worlds

Astral Gleam

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Struck dumb might have been one way to put it. Where? How? WHY? These were important questions that the accursed Pink One just blatantly ignored! She wasn't even a Unicorn and yet apparently she could defy the laws of physics more than any magic spell ever could! Just... just why? Astral rubbed his hoof gently against his forehead, as if suffering from a migraine. That pony had a real talent for giving him painful headaches, it seemed, "I'm dead, aren't I? I'm dead and this is my personal Hell, I'm certain of it." he mumbled, wanting desperately for there to be some kind, any kind of explanation for the shenanigans of one Pinkamena Diane Pie. But alas, there was none. In fact, the Pink One herself was gone just as suddenly and frustratingly without explanation as when she arrived.

Well, at least she was gone. That at least was some relief. The Princess elected to ignore what just happened, and in all honesty Astral probably should have as well. But that was something a student of science just simply could not do. And thus Astral found himself mentally building up and subsequently shooting down explanations in his own head. Of course, he basically missed the Princess addressing him once more and asking a question. Probably something more important, but of course he couldn't get the inexplicable appearance of that pony out of his thoughts. He walked along with the Princess, but his responses were not particularly helpful at first. Mostly just mumbles about the Pink One and various possible explanations for her... abilities.

Thankfully, though, the meeting with the rest of the visitors finally snapped Astral out of it. He remembered where he was and what they were doing here, "I don't believe them to be all that hostile, Princess." he said, finally answering her earlier question, "It's hard to say for certain due to lack of proper translations, but if I had to make an educated guess then I would say they are more interested in learning than anything else. They might be a race of scholars, perhaps. I'm afraid they didn't provide much demonstration of their capabilities... other than merely floating about." perhaps if he'd conversed with them longer he might have learned more, but unfortunately the commotion at the castle ruins pretty much nixed the meeting before he could learn anything more substantial.

"I fear I must also make a request, Your Majesty." Astral really didn't like asking favors of anypony, let alone a Princess, "My colleagues and superiors in the Crystal Empire Academy will wish to know of my actions and inlcusion if this matter exceeds the period of time I was to spend in Ponyville. It's also a safe bet that Her Majesty Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor would appreciate being informed of this as well. For diplomatic purposes of course, I imagine all four of the Equestrian Royalty will need to play some role in dealing with these visitors, correct?" but he didn't wish to put her on the spot for an answer right away, so he quickly added, "Shall I cast the Translation Circle for us, Princess?"

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

@Double - Even I had a problem with your character's many aliases. I suggest you stick with Xun as the name you give to the club. And the Beast can be your moniker that you use during matches.

@Leah

He only has one, though. Xun the Beast. I'm not really seeing how that can be confusing.

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

@Leah Nah, control 'em all you want. The Club NPCs aren't meant to be all that important. I am tempted change Gao's name though, to avoid confusing him with the other Gao.

@Exit I'm not sure Shu even knows how to smile. He tends to just glare angrily. Being angry all the time is sort of his shtick. Otherwise, nice post. I'm a little surprised my humble cage fighter has garnered this much interest but I'll roll with it.

The White Lotus Prophecy - An Avatar (TV series) based RP

@Exit's character sheet and biography is intentionally vague for reasons they have discussed over PM. Therefore, I welcome you, @Exit, to the RP. I like this Lois Lane of yours. ^_^

@Leah

I would have suggested a Three Dog-esque character. Radio personality that's "fighting the good fight"? But this works too.